


From Spark to Flame

by MinilocIsland



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Christmas, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 17:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17125943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinilocIsland/pseuds/MinilocIsland
Summary: He'd thought he'd be alone in the castle for Christmas as usual.This year, however, there's a slight disruption to Isak's Christmas plans.





	From Spark to Flame

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, everyone!
> 
> An especially merry Christmas to Immy, H and Kit for organizing this lovely event.
> 
> This fills the prompt "Christmas Magic" for the Evakteket SKAMenger Hunt.

The second he enters the library, he stops in his tracks.

Startles at the form of somebody bent over one of the tables. It’s not like this is his private space, but –

He’d just assumed he’d be the only one left here as usual.

Sixth Christmas in, he’s been free to roam the castle in solitude for a couple of blessed weeks every year. And he wasn’t prepared for this to be an exception. 

He’s not sure he likes it – in any case, having company by someone else than the teachers or the ghosts is a disruption to the regular.

The dim evening light of the lanterns hanging from the shelves isn’t bright enough to give away who it is. Nor is the faint light falling from the stranger’s wand, a narrow beam of golden light streaming down over the book in front of him. 

It’s nobody from his own house, at least – the silence of the tower, day as well as night, is enough to tell him that.

He stands in the doorway, unsure of what to do next. He should probably introduce himself – it would only be decent manners, since they’ll be the only ones here for the next two weeks, after all. A part of him, however, wants to have the upper hand in knowing he’s not the only one here for a little while longer.

But of course, he stays a second too long – long enough that the stranger looks up from his book and turns his face towards him.

_ Shit.  _ It’s him.

_ Even. _

“Eh – hi?” Even’s face is nonplussed as their eyes meet. “You’re not Madam Pince,” he adds.

Isak rolls his eyes, a biting answer ready on his tongue out of pure habit. “How observant of you.”

Immediately, he wants to summon  _ Hogwarts: A History  _ or an equally heavy book to smash him in the face: here he is, finally with a chance to speak to him and this is what his brain comes up with?

But then he looks at Even, and sees him blushing. Blushing.  _ Him. _

The guy he’s been seeing in the corridors ever since he started here; always a head taller than everybody else, always within his group of loud, boisterous friends, with that pretty blonde girl hanging off his arm –

He wouldn’t say Even had been the only reason for him to go watch almost every game of Quidditch – but it had been close enough. The only chance Isak has had of staring at him unabashedly for an hour or a few, if only from a distance. He almost blushes as he thinks about the Omnioculars Eva brought him from the World Cup in their fourth year, and how many times he played and replayed certain loops of Even diving to smash a Quaffle away, making his robes ride up over his legs –

And then, last year, Even had been gone. The absence of his booming laughter loud at breakfasts, or whenever Isak passed by his group of friends outside a classroom –

This semester, however, he’s back, but without his friend group – they’d all graduated in the  summer. And maybe, Isak had thought at the start of term, he’d have the chance, now, to be alone with him some time, even though they’re still a year apart, and in different houses –

Who’d he been kidding. If he’d had that kind of courage, he’d been sorted into the same house as Even to begin with.

Not that he knows if Even is that brave. The slumped posture he’s adapted, the way he’s been keeping closer to the walls ever since he came back hasn’t exactly convinced Isak. Despite how unafraid Even’s seemed in the past.

And the way he folds in on himself now, from Isak’s words, does nothing to contradict that. 

Isak takes a step closer – somehow feeling he should make amends. 

“I didn’t know anyone else would be here for Christmas this year,” he tries, stretching a hand out to lean against the table.

Even shrugs, a wary look on his face as he mutters something under his breath and puts his wand away, down in the pockets of his robes. “Me neither.”

“I’m always here, though,” Isak responds. “For Christmas, I mean.” Although – why would Even care? Why would anyone, especially someone like  _ him,  _ spare any attention to who stays over the holidays and who doesn’t?

But Even rises, the scraping of his chair against the wooden floors softened by years of use. “So,” he says, and when he looks up at Isak there’s a glint of something in his eyes that wasn’t there a minute ago. “What do you do for Christmas around here, then?”

 

* * *

 

They end up walking along a gallery on the fifth floor, moonlight falling in through the high windows to their right. Isak leads, and Even follows.

He never thought it’d happen like this.

When they reach the door at the end of the corridor, however, a sudden hesitation comes over him. Sure, more than anything, his initial plan was to impress Even – but to really bring him inside the prefects’ bathroom? Go in there all by themselves? 

What was he really thinking. That they’d get into the pool together?

No. It’s too much, and either way, too soon.

He turns right, instead, leading them towards the gate to the quidditch pitch.

 

* * *

 

Their breaths turn misty before them as they make their way onto the grass, small clouds following in Even’s wake as he strides before Isak towards the edge of the pitch, facing the lake and the forest behind it.

They haven’t said more than a few words to each other since they left the library, and it’s starting to grate on Isak’s nerves. At first, it had been enough just to be allowed to walk alongside Even, to know that Even wanted to follow him – but as the silent minutes pass, the more he suspects that it was more of a “we’re the only two people here, guess we have to stick together now” than anything else. 

Right now, standing here in the dead quiet of the snow, under the black sky, castle towering behind them, it feels like they’re the only two people left on Earth. They’re way too underdressed, only their regular robes between them and the cold, crisp winter air – but Isak has no desire to get back inside. Not yet.

Even turns to face him as they reach the little fireplace at the edge of the lake. Probably to suggest that they go indoors again, that they should part ways and go to their respective towers to sleep. But the spark in his eyes is wild as he smiles, and says: “I haven’t been out here for almost two years, you know.”

“You’ve been away,” Isak nods. 

Even tilts his head to the side, eyeing him carefully. “You’ve noticed.”

Caught in the act, Isak opens his mouth, and closes it. He’s blown it – given himself away. Looking to the side, up towards the castle doors, a plan for escape –

Cold fingers close around his wrist.

“It’s okay,” Even says, and looks down at his feet. “I’m not gonna ask you what you’re doing here at Christmas, either.”

Isak looks up at him. “Okay,” he finally says, and feels Even’s fingers go slack, letting his his arm go, and it drops to his side.

“It’s just – I didn’t know I’d have company, and then  _ you _ came into the library, and –” Even shrugs, and looks up towards the Astronomy Tower, eyes gleaming with the moonlight reflected from the lake.

The way Even emphasizes  _ you _ lights an impossible spark inside his chest. He should probably try to quench it, but who is he kidding? 

Suddenly, his clothes don’t feel that thin anymore.

“It’s okay,” he mirrors. “I thought I’d be alone, too, you know.”

Even turns his head, eyeing him carefully, like he’s somehow measuring him. “Maybe you wanna – I mean, I don’t want to intrude, or –”

“No!” It comes out much quicker than he intended. “I mean – you’re a welcome change to Peeves. Honestly.”

Even throws his head back and laughs – and it hits Isak that he hasn’t heard that particular laugh for over a year. God, he’s really been keeping count, hasn’t he?

“The Grey Lady does seem like pretty dull company,” Even agrees, as his laughter fades away into a smile.

Something falls into place in Isak’s chest. “You know which house I’m in,” he responds, before he can stop himself.

“I do.” Even’s smile is small, but there’s a kind of an excitement in his wide open eyes that makes Isak heart beat faster nonetheless.

Even’s biting his lip, the tip of his nose red, strands of hair white with frost, and the last thing Isak wants is for him to walk away. He sticks his hand into his pocket, and takes out his wand. 

_ “Incendio,” _ he mutters, pointing at the dead, dry logs in the fireplace beside them.

Ideally, he would have cast the incantation wordlessly, to show Even that he’s not that much younger after all. But now, the happy look on Even’s face as he stretches out his hands toward the rising flames will have to do.

And when Even turns his head and looks at him, eyes full of secrets, there’s nothing more he can ask for. 

Not right now.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [tumblr](https://irazor.tumblr.com)!


End file.
